Vegan Lemon Loaf With Raspberry & Black Pepper Frosting

Makes: 1 mini loaf, size as seen

It’s hilarious (but not shocking at all) that teenage me used to hate being in the kitchen. My mum says that the first time I ever baked, I left behind the aftermath of a mini hurricane. It took me way too long, there was lots of yelling, wasted flour, and a splattered egg, but several hours later, I was triumphantly photographing the tiny oval-shaped cake born of my labour - a simple pound cake with fresh strawberry bits in it, topped with a vanilla/lemon icing. That was well over a decade ago, and in the years since, even though I've come much further with my baking skills than my mother or I could have ever fathomed, my mother still fondly remembers that day - and then mocks me for it because some things never change.

*Note: This recipe was created in partnership with Becel and references their products.

INGREDIENTS

GROUP A – CAKE

• 1 cup AP flour

• 1 cup cake flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 3/4 tsp table salt

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/4 cup vanilla oat milk*

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup lemon olive oil (substitute: regular, unflavoured light olive oil)

• 1/4 cup melted Becel Plant Butter (Unsalted)

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• Zest of 1 lemon

*Note – if using an unflavoured non-dairy milk, add 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract to the batter.

GROUP B – FROSTING

• 1/2 cup Becel Plant Butter (Unsalted), at room temperature

• 1/2 cup vegan cream cheese

• 2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 tsp cornstarch

• Handful of fresh raspberries

• Juice from 1/4 of a navel orange

• Pinch of salt

GROUP C – GARNISHES

• Fresh lemon zest

• Fresh orange rind

• Fresh raspberries

• Small fresh flowers

METHOD

Cake

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a regular sized loaf tin and Iine with parchment. Create partitions at 3/4 of the length and 3/4 of the width with aluminum foil to bake a small-sized but tall loaf. 

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. 

• In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the milk, water, sugar, melted plant butter, olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest (and vanilla if using). Whisk well to dissolve the sugar. 

• Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well to form the batter.

• Pour batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 30 – 35 minutes, till the top is evenly browned and a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. 

• Let the cake cool inside the tin for 10 - 15 minutes, the turn onto a wire rack for complete cooling at room temperature.

Frosting

• Add all the ingredients to a deep mixing bowl and whisk on high speed till the frosting comes together as a thick, smooth, spreadable paste. The raspberries should be completely blitzed into it and there should be no lumps of butter or sugar remaining.

• Let it cool in the fridge till it is time to use. If it is too thick/solidified before assembly, whisk it on medium speed to bring its consistency back.

Assembly

• Slice off the browned edges of the loaf to leave behind a mostly symmetric rectangular slab of cake. Slice this slab lengthwise into 3 thick sections.

• Dollop the frosting onto the cake and continue to stack the layers. Envelope the loaf in more such thick swirls of frosting.

• Decorate with fresh raspberries, twirls of orange rind, freshly grated citrus zest, and small fresh flowers (flowers to be removed prior to eating, if they are not edible).